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Cory Monteith

Executives at Fox Network have postponed the season premiere of Glee following the death of its star Cory Monteith.

The actor died last weekend (13Jul13) aged 31 after taking a lethal mix of heroin and alcohol.

The first episode of the fifth season of Glee, the show which catapulted him to international fame upon its debut in 2009, was set to hit screens on 19 September (13), but TV bosses have now decided to push it back until 26 September (13).

The musical’s creator Ryan Murphy has not commented on how Monteith’s death will affect the show.

Cory Monteith’s family and girlfriend Lea Michele paid their final respects to the actor on Tuesday in a private viewing at a hospital in Vancouver. After the viewing, Monteith’s body was cremated.

TMZ reports Monteith’s mom Ann and brother Shaun were present, but his estranged dad Joe was not because he didn’t receive an invitation. Joe told TMZ he is “totally devastated” that he did not have a chance to say a final goodbye to his son.

“I always loved both my sons and am going to miss Cory very, very much,” he said. “I’m saddened at the fact that I couldn’t have been there to see my son before he was cremated.”

On Tuesday, Canadian authorities announced Monteith died of an overdose of heroin and alcohol. “At this point there is no evidence to suggest Mr. Monteith’s death was anything other than a most-tragic accident,” BC Coroners Service said in a statement.

The Glee actor, who was always open about his long battle with addiction, was found dead in his Vancouver hotel room on Saturday morning. He was 31-years-old.

As Vancouver authorities try to determine the cause of Cory Monteith’s death at age 31, the Glee actor’s girlfriend Lea Michele is mourning in private. Soon after Monteith’s tragic passing was announced, a rep for Michele released a statement requesting privacy.

Michele and Monteith had dated for more than a year. When Monteith voluntarily entered rehab for addiction in March, Michele publicly supported him. “I love and support Cory and will stand by him through this. I am grateful and proud he made this decision,” she said at the time.

Monteith had struggled with addition since he was a teenager. In 2011, he told Parade magazine that he became addicted to drugs in high school and dropped out of school at 16. He entered rehab for the first time at 19-years-old because his family staged an intervention. “I did the stint but then went back to doing exactly what I left off doing,” he said.

Monteith finally got sober after he was caught stealing money from a family member. “It was a cry for help,” he told Parade.

There was no immediate indication that drugs played a factor in his death. Monteith was found dead in his room at Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in Vancouver on Saturday morning. Police say the cause of death is under investigation.

“We know there will be considerable interest in this case, and we have detectives assigned to the case who attended with our Forensic Identification Unit to examine the scene, to ensure to the extent possible that there are no unanswered questions,” said Acting Police Chief Doug LePard. “Hotel video has been secured as well as room access records. Our investigators have spoken with hotel staff, who are providing the utmost in cooperation.”

Monteith was out with friends Friday night. “There were others with Mr. Monteith in his room earlier [Friday] night, but video and fob key entries show him returning to his room by himself in the early morning hours and we believe he was alone when he died,” added LePard.

Canadian actor Cory Monteith, best known as one of the stars of the Fox television show “Glee,” was found dead in his Vancouver hotel room Saturday afternoon. He was 31.

Acting Vancouver Police Chief Doug LePard confirmed that Monteith’s body was found in the room on the 21st floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel shortly after noon local time. LePard said that Monteith had checked into the hotel July 6 and was due to check out Saturday. Staff went to Monteith’s room when they realized that he had missed his check-out time.

An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, but LePard said that all indications are that there was no foul play. Surveillance video and data from fob key entries showed Monteith returning to his room in the early hours of Saturday morning. LePard said Monteith had been out with people earlier in the evening, and that those people are being interviewed.

“We do not have a great deal of information as to cause of death,” Coroner Lisa Lapointe said.

“On behalf of the Vancouver Police, I want to pass on our condolences to the family, friends, castmates and millions of fans of Mr. Monteith,” LePard said in a statement. “As was the case in countless homes, I watched Glee regularly with my daughters, and I know there will be shock and sadness in many households with the news of his tragic death.”

Monteith had just shot photos to promote the fifth season of “Glee” with his girlfriend and co-star Lea Michele last month.

“Having the best time at our #Glee cast #Season5 gallery shoot! I can’t believe it’s our 5th season! Times flies when you’re having fun:),” Michele tweeted on June 28.

“I have no words! My heart is broken,” Dot-Marie Jones, who plays football coach Shannon Beiste on “Glee,” said in a post on her Twitter account Saturday night. She called Monteith a “hell of a friend” and an “amazing” man.

“He graciously asks for your respect and privacy as he takes the necessary steps towards recovery,” the rep added.

No other details, including where Monteith is in treatment, have been released.

Fox offered their support to Monteith in a statement. “Cory is a beloved member of the Glee family and we fully support his decision to seek treatment,” the network said. “Everyone at the show wishes him well and looks forward to his return.”

Monteith’s Glee costar and real life girlfriend Lea Michele released a statement saying she “will stand by him through this.” “I am grateful and proud he made this decision,” she tells People magazine.

This is not the first time Monteith has spoken publicly about his addiction problem. In 2011, he told Parade magazine that he became addicted to drugs as a teenager in high school. He dropped out of school at 16 and did any kind of drug he could find. After his family staged an intervention, he entered rehab for the first time at the age of 19. “I did the stint but then went back to doing exactly what I left off doing,” he admitted.

Monteith finally got sober after he was caught stealing money from a family member. “It was a cry for help,” he told Parade of the incident.

The stars of hit TV show Glee have shown off their generous side by recording a special version of “Do They Know Its Christmas” in aid of charity.

Actors including Lea Michele and Cory Monteith have recorded their own version of Band Aid’s 1984 hit single and will be donating all the the money raised to The Band Aid Trust.

The charity was set up in 1985 and helps support projects in third world countries, and Bob Geldof, who co-wrote the track and co-founded Band Aid, is ecstatic about the new version.

He says, “The reverberations of this little song continue down the long 26 years since Midge Ure and I wrote it. It could not be more timely now that Glee with its vast global audience of young people re-introduce it to a whole new constituency who are probably unaware of the great tragedy unfolding amongst the hungry, poor and dying of Somalia as a result of drought and a bitter and pointless civil war. This song was made specifically with that intent.

“Band Aid would like to thank from the bottom of its heart all the producers and actors of Glee who have gone beyond their normal brief of entertainment and entered into the spirit and understanding of that recording and its artists 26 years ago and its many subsequent iterations, by opening their website to the topic of poverty and the poor and linking it through to the Band Aid and the ONE Campaign sites.

Glee is losing at least three leading characters when the third season wraps up this fall. Creator Ryan Murphy has confirmed Lea Michele, Chris Colfer and Cory Monteith will not return for a fourth season. Their characters will depart after graduating from William McKinnley High School.

“We made that decision and I involved Chris and Lea and they thought that was a good idea. They both trust the writing and trust me and felt that it would be great to have an open and closed experience for them to go out while they were on top,” Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter.

“You can keep them on the show for six years and people will criticize you for not being realistic or you can be really true to life and say when they started the show they were very clearly sophomores and they should graduate at the end of their senior year,” he added.

Other characters will also be leaving the show, but Murphy won’t reveal who until season 3 kicks off in September.